natasha2106

Hi all, we are a family of 4 currently working and living in SA, we have been here for 4 years. However, the job market here is so slow it is almost at a standstill. Hubby was made redundant as a metal machinist and it took him almost 6 months to find another job. He finally got another job but the salary has dropped by $20,000. This is just the way it is, because so many companies are closing the remaining ones can offer ridiculously low wages and know people will take them as they have no choice - which is exactly what happened to us. We are now struggling here financially and have started driving for Uber to try and make up some lost wages, however, this is poor too. We thought about jumping ship and moving to perhaps Brisbane/Gold Coast/ Sunshine Coast areas but can see that there are not many jobs for metal machinists either, showing on seek.com. So my questions are: Are there any metal machinists here who can give any advice on job markets in these areas for hubby, wages etc. What is the Uber driving like in these areas, what are the earnings like, here in Adelaide I drive 40 mins into the city everyday and turn it on and I'm lucky if I pick up one or two a week in the morning before work. I work on a Friday night until around midnight and only can pull in around $100 - $140. Uber is still very new and very slow here in SA. If anyone can offer any advice on this please. We need to work to live and currently living to work as we have no choice, not good when we are a young family thanks

Hi We are flying with Cathay Pacific on the 14th April and we have looked on the flight tickets and it says that we have laptop charger points on each seat. Now this may be a very stupid question, but .... I have phoned the airline and asked what type of adapter we would need to bring in order to plug our laptops into the charge unit and we were told that we need to have M Power Adapter and that we can buy these from Currys. I have looked at currys and there is no M Power adapters listed. Could anyone tell me if they have flown with them before and what the adapters/plugs are we need as we have two children flying with us and to charge the laptop would be a godsend!!! Don't want to turn up on the day and realise we don't have the charger required and the laptops are no use Any help would be appreciated. thanks all See you all soon:err:

Hi Iron Chef Does this also work for motorbikes as we have two that we would love to bring over with us?? If it does I will send across details. Thanks Natasha

Hi all, We decided to ship our belongings with *********. Cutting a very long story short, I really regret every choosing them as a shipping company and I wouldn't recommend to anyone ever!! We booked them to arrive on the Friday to pack up our household belongings, they arrived a day early and then said they couldn't come back on the Friday. They did come back after several phone calls and emails!! We had filled in all the forms confirming that we fly out on the 14th April and that we want our belongings to be delivered after 18th May, as we are in a furnished rental for 4 weeks so won't need our belongings before then. However, after ringing them today to find out if we could add an item to our belongings (which are mean't to be in storage) we are told that they have been loaded into container and it is ready to be shipped, and was then told that our belongings are expected to arrive on the 9th April.........we don't even fly out until 14th.!! So after my rant, my question is : Does anyone know what the costs are to have your shipment sat on the dockside of customs for any length of time, as we cannot collect our belongings until May as we don't have a rental to go to until after 18th May. I will be arguing with ********* about any charges, but just want to get an idea of what it is going to cost so I know what I will be up against. Any advice would be greatly received. Natasha

We have just shipped our belongings and used letton Percival and they come in half the price of the shipping company insurance. Good luck

Thanks for this very interesting read

Hi all, does anyone know where I could get a comparable finance/budget sheet from like the ones they use on wanted down under? I would like to do some comparisons for coatings of living etc and cannot find anywhere that has got a list showing everything that is payable in oz, as I heard that they don't pay council tax - can someone confirm this pls. thank you Natasha

What channel and time is the show on? thanks Natasha

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can answer his question we have some glass and delicate Christmas baubles we are sending in the container next week, is it best for me to wrap these in some bubble wrap before putting into the Christmas box of decorations for the shopping company? As I don't think the shipping company r going to wrap them individually ?? Not sure what other people have done? Thanks natasha

Hi Bob, we are in a bit of a dilemma at the moment regarding our dog. He is a long haired German Shepard and will be 12 years old in April, we fly out in April to Adelaide but we are struggling to find a suitable home for our beloved dog, he is very temperamental and cannot just go to anyone due to his nature and age, is there a limit on the age of a dog to take into oz? We were hoping he would stay here with family but this option is not possible, but we did feel that the flight and move may be too much for him due to his age but any advice you could give would be most gratefully received. Many thanks Natasha

Hi Bob, we are in a bit of a dilemma at the moment regarding our dog. He is a long haired German Shepard and will be 12 years old in April, we fly out in April to Adelaide but we are struggling to find a suitable home for our beloved dog, he is very temperamental and cannot just go to anyone due to his nature and age, is there a limit on the age of a dog to take into oz? We were hoping he would stay here with family but this option is not possible, but we did feel that the flight and move may be too much for him due to his age but any advice you could give would be most gratefully received. Many thanks Natasha

Hi, does anyone know of a website we can look at to get an idea of what the wages would be for a cnc setter/operator (metal machinist first class). We have been told that as long as our TRA skills comes through fine we can go for a 175 visa, so we can go anywhere, but I would like to get an idea of the wages for different areas so we can get a comparision. Thanks all Tasha

We are using an agent but we are not happy with them. On being told in February this year that our visa process would be straight forward, I have ended up spending hours of my own time researching and then sending it to the agents as they have not sent me the correct forms. My husband is an engineer and we were told that he had to complete the AQF - we were then given a form to complete where he ticked what he knows and has worked on to gain enough points. However twice they sent us the wrong form stating that it was suitable to his job role and in fact it was nothing like it and he couldn't score the points required. After spending about 3 hours researching one Sunday morning I found the correct form which was relevant to his job and sent it Monday am to the agents and told them that this was the relevant job role and if this is what we could complete - which turned out to be correct form and he then went on to pass the points. We have since had to complete the IELTS test to gain extra points as told we required extra points for the visa and we are still waiting for our TRA skills assessment to come back we have been chasing now since August and have been told that there is nothing they can do but to sit and wait. My husband and I are so tempted to drop our agents and move to another, but with the TRA pending we don't know how is best to proceed and really sceptical about using another agent. I think its down to personal preference regarding doing it for yourself. The forms we have had to sign which the agent has completed for us, really is not difficult, my 7 year old daughter could have filled in half of them.

OMG! I can't believe they are now requesting more money for another department to process the application. We placed the TRA in July for my husband as Metal Machinist and he has completed the AQF too. We have been told that they haven't replied to any applications since July to our agents - but I cannot understand why they aren't giving updates. Starting to get frustrated as my husband turns 33 in February and then we won't get the amount of points due to his age!!!!:arghh:

Hi Can anyone please help us?? We started our process in February 2011 and have completed the IELTS and AQF (as husband hadn't completed apprentiship), we submitted our TRA skills assessment in July after the new points system came out, we have tried several times through our agent to get an update but they keep telling us that the tra haven't replied to any applications under the new points system. Has anyone applied to the TRA since July 2011 and have you had a response yet, or are you still waiting for a reply or update. Please let me know how your getting on as I feel that we are just being forgotten and am getting tired of keep chasing our agents who keep telling us the same thing. thanks Natasha :mad: